Google Sues Accused Phishing Operation for Orchestrating Transnational Scams

NEW YORK — Google is suing Chinese operators of an internet platform called “Lighthouse” that the lawsuit says offers customers software that can mimic legitimate websites for accepting online payments.

The legitimate websites typically sell consumer products, such as groceries and mobile phones, or offer government services.

They have included the West Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles and the official New York City website.

Consumers might believe they are buying food or paying a vehicle tax but they’re really transferring money through their credit cards to thieves.

Some of the thieves have used Google ads to direct victims to their fake websites, according to the lawsuit.

Google’s lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in New York seeks a court order to shut down Lighthouse and the network of thieves it created.

Lighthouse’s customers pay a monthly fee that gives cybercriminals access to software that easily allows them to set up fake websites and text message scams.

Google says the “phishing for dummies” software helped Lighthouse customers create 200,000 fraudulent websites in one 20-day period. They then attacked more than 1 million potential victims in 121 countries, the lawsuit says.

Google said Lighthouse is part of a “relentless phishing campaign” that has compromised millions of credit cards.

The lawsuit does not name the defendants. Google still is trying to identify them. The company’s ability to collect damages is expected to be limited because the defendants are believed to be in China.

Google filed the lawsuit one day after U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced she was organizing a task force to track down and stop Asian-based cybercrimes.

She said the scammers often use strategies that convince older Americans to transfer cryptocurrency to them.

Pirro said the task force of attorneys and investigators joins the forces of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia’s Office, the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service.

“We strive to expose these fraudulent contacts and pitfalls so that Americans end up secure in their investments,” Pirro said.

She described one case where an elderly woman lost $1 million and another where a man committed suicide.

A contributing factor for the effort is the emergence of the United States as a “haven for cryptocurrency,” Pirro said. “There are no tricks that can be part of cryptocurrency,” she said.

The “Scam Center Strike Force” is directing most of its effort at schemes based in Burma, Cambodia and Laos. They typically their victims through the internet, messaging apps or text messages.

The Strike Force uses sanctions, seizures and criminal prosecution to recover stolen funds.

Pirro said her team’s efforts so far have seized more than $400 million and that they plan to file legal actions seeking another $80 million.

The Strike Force is enlisting help from private sector organizations, such as Meta, Microsoft and the AARP.

Also on Wednesday, FBI Director Kash Patel announced that he had met with Chinese law enforcement officials stopping transnational crime.

Although most of the negotiation focused on stopping illegal fentanyl imports , they also discussed expanding law enforcement cooperation against cyberscams and telephone fraud.

The FBI’s recent Internet Crime Report 2024 says scammers of all sorts caused $16.6 billion in losses for Americans last year. $10 billion of the thefts were traced to Asian countries.

Google’s lawsuit is Google v. Does 1–25 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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